Collapsible egg-case.



L. W. CHAPMAN. GOLLAPSIBLE EGG CASE. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22. me.

Patented Apr. 22,1919.

NORRIS PEYERS m. puaro'umo WASHING mu. 0. c.

L. W. CHAPMAN.

COLLAPSIBLE EGG CASE. 7 APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22. 1916.

1,301,650. Patented Apr. 22,1919.

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LEMUEL W. CHAPMAN, OF INDIANAIOLI S, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOWILLIAM E. WACH'IEL, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

COLLAPSIBLE EGG-CASE.

neonate.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

Application filed January 22, 1916. Serial No. 73,687.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEMUEL IV. CHAP- MAN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State ofIndiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCollapsible Eg -Cases; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a collapsibleegg case, constructed of metal or other suitable material and one of itsobjects is the provision of a device of this character, which shall besimple, durable and eiiicient, and which may be manufactured and sold ata comparatively low cost.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device of the abovestated character, in which the side, end and top walls may be easily andquickly folded to a compact article u-ponthe bottom for returnedshipment when desired and which will not occupy a large space during thereturn to the owner, thus reducing the high cost of shipping rates uponempty cases.

A further object of this invention is the provision of novel means ofdetachably securing the various parts in an assembled po' sition so thatthey will not accidentally separate and expose the eggs and otherarticles therein, to danger of breakage during transportation from theshipper to the receiver.

With these and other objects in view as will become more apparent as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists in cer tain novel featuresof construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be behereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had tothe following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1is a perspective View, illustrating my invention in an assembledposition ready for shipment,

Fig. 2 is a side sectional view, illustrating the partition in avertical position within the casing,

Fig. 3 is a detail transverse sectional view, illustrating the attachingmeans between one of the end walls and the side walls,

Fig. a is a perspective view, illustrating the case in a foldedposition,

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional View, showing the device in foldedposition, and

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on the lines 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Referring in detail to the drawings, 1 indicates a bottom, havingsecured thereto end flanges 2 and side flanges 3 which are of greaterheight than the end flanges 2. A pair of end walls 5 are secured to theend flanges 2'by hinges 6 and a pair of side walls 7 are secured to theside flanges 3 by hinges 8, providing ends and sides to the case whichmay be easily folded upon the bottom 1 when desired.

Secured to the side walls 7 is a top consisting' of membersQ and 10 bymeans of hinges 11 and 12 respectively. These members are held togetherby a hasp 13 receiving a staple 14 which may receive a padlock or othersuitable locking means such as a bar 14: bent as illustrated at 15' toprovide a handle. One end of the bar 1 1 is bent to provide a stop 16and the opposite end apertured to receive a padlock for securely holdingthe hasps 13 and 16 upon the staples 14 and 15.

The end walls 5 are each provided with a staple 15, which staples passthrough alining slots in the member 9 of the top and receive hasps 16carried by the member 10, to securely hold the side walls 5 in avertical position and against lateral movement in re lation with theside walls 7. Each of the side walls 7 are provided with staples 17 and18 and hingedly secured to the staples 17 are rods 19 which are receivedby clips 20 carried by the end walls 5. The free ends of the rods 19 arebent at right angles to form hooks 21 which are received by the staples18, to support the side walls 5 in a vertical position when the members9 and 10 are swung upwardly into a vertical position and away from anengagement with the top edges of the side walls 5 to give access to theinterior of the case.

A partition 22 is secured to the bottom 1 by hinges 23 and has its upperedge notched as indicated at 24: to receive a pair of Ushaped members 25and 26 which are hingedly secured to relatively spaced staples 27carried by each of the side walls 7, to hold the partition 22 in avertical position within the casing. The partition 22 is receivedbetween the relative spaced staples 27 and further held in its properposition by the side walls 7, to insure against lateral movement whenthe device is being used to convey articles of breakable nature.

When the receiver desires to return the egg case to the user in a foldedposition, he first swings the members 9 and 10 on their hinges 11 and 12to a vertical position. The U-shaped members 25 and 26 are disengagedfrom the notch 24 of the partition 22 and the side walls are pulledslightly outwardly to free the partition 22 from the staples 27 and thepartition is swung downwardly to rest upon the bottom 1 as illustratedin Fig. 5. The rods 19 are disengaged from the staples 18 and the clips20 and the end walls 5 are then swung inwardly upon the bottom 1 and oneof said side walls 5 rests upon the partition 22. The member 9 is swungdownwardly against one of the side walls 7 and said side wall is swunginwardly upon the end walls 5 which have been heretofore folded. Theother side wall 7 carrying the member 10 is then swun downwardly andsecured to one of the si e flanges 3 by the hasps 13 and 16 receivingstaples 29 and 15*, providing an egg case in a compact condition asillustrated in Fig. 4:.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that minor changes in construction,combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is In a collapsiblecrate, a bottom wall pro vided with vertical end and side flanges, endwalls hingedly secured to the upper edges of said end flanges andfoldable downwardly and inwardly between the side flanges, side wallshingedly secured to the upper edges of the side flanges, top sectionshingedly secured to the upper edges of the side walls, one of said sideflanges being providedwith spaced securing staples projecting from theouter face thereof and the top section carried by the side wall securedto this flange being provided adjacent its inner edge withcorrespondingly spaced staples, hasps secured to the other top sectionand adapted to receive said staples, and a locking rod i11- sertiblethrough the staples in front of the hasps, the locking rod cooperatingwith the staples carried by said top sect-ion, and the staples carriedby said flange and the hasps to lock the crate in either extended orfolded condition optionally, said lockin rod being provided with anintermediate offset portion providing a handle for transporting thecrate.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LEMUEL W. CHAPMAN. Witnesses:

CHAs. R. ROLLINSON, URBAIN W. DOWNEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

